BC women fall at line again

For the second straight game, the Bethel College women’s basketball team outscored a team from the field, but was outscored from the line, leading to a Thresher loss. Bethel fell to Bethany 56-53 Wednesday in KCAC play at Thresher Gym. Bethel was outscored 17-6 from the free throw line. “We played a very physical Bethany team tonight and ended up losing a heartbreaker,” Bethel coach Mark Fox said. “I love how hard my kids are playing right now, but we’re not getting much to show for it. We’ll continue to keep our eyes on the big picture, and that is, that we’re a very young team and our main goal is to improve from Day 1 to Day 101, which I think we’re doing. “The hardest job, honestly, for us as coaches right now is to keep the kids from feeling like we’re being targeted. If you take out the McPherson game, in our last 4 games our opponents have shot 135 free throws to our 64. To add insult to injury, in the Saint Mary game, we did not shoot a free throw until 11:00 were left in the game. By that time they had shot 17. I’m sure I’m going to end up joining Mark Cuban in the doghouse, but as a veteran coach of 25 years, it is disturbing to witness the direction this is going.” Bethel trailed 29-22 at the half, and trailed by as many as 11 in the second half, but was able to close the gap late in the game. Bethany was led by Tasha Wagoner with 14 points and Kendra Austin with 12. The Swedes improve to 3-18, 2-9 in KCAC play. The Swedes sweep the regular-season series with Bethel. Haley Bright led Bethel with 10 points off the bench. Taylor Durant had 12 rebounds. “That being said, as frustrated as I was with our play at times tonight, I was equally pleased with the determination and never-say-die attitude the kids showed as we battled back from 11 down with under seven minutes to go,” Fox said. “And, the run started with us employing both a triangle-and-two, and box-and-one defenses — neither of which we’ve practice for one second this year. Again, very proud of them for understanding what we were trying to accomplish and making that work.” Bethel falls to 6-14, 2-9 in KCAC play. Bethel, Bethany and Saint Mary are all tied for eighth in the conference with seven games remaining. The top eight teams advance to the KCAC post-season tournament. Bethel plays at 5 p.m. Saturday at Friends. “We now go to Friends, always one of the most, if not the most, physical teams in our conference, who also happens to be playing very well right now,” Fox said. “They’re simply a tough match-up for us because of their size and athletic ability. But, we’ll try to take advantage of some things we see on film. And, if I know these girls, they’re going to come out ready to get this bad taste out of their mouths.”